output.txt

evdb@custard-2 ~/5501489 $ python xml-test.py
--- running tostring
--- result is:

        This is
        some
        text…

xml-test.py

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

xml = open('xml-test.xml').read()

root = ET.fromstring(xml)

foo = root.find('foo')

print "--- running tostring"
full = ET.tostring(foo, method="text", encoding="utf8")

print "--- result is:"
print full

xml-test.xml

<outer>
    <foo>
        This is
        <i>some</i>
        text…
    </foo>
</outer>